VENNER, TOBIAS

VIA RECTA AD VITAM LONGAM. OR, A TREATISE WHERE IN THE RIGHT WAY AND BEST MANNER OF LIVING FOR ATTAINING TO A LONG AND HEALTHFULL LIFE, IS CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED AND PUNCTUALLY APPLIED TO EVERY AGE AND CONSTITUTION OF BODY. . . . LONDON: ABEL ROPER, 1660.

      Later edition 4to. [vi], 404, [8] pp., including index and leaf of publisher's advertisements. With an engraved frontispiece portrait of Venner at age 85, lacking in many copies. Woodcut headpiece and inititals. Contemporary calf, rebacked; an excellent copy. The "fourth impression" according to the title page, "amplified with many profitable additions." However, it is a later edition, this work being extremely popular and reprinted many times after the first edition of 1620. One of the most popular books on diet and health of this period, Venner (1577-1660) did a great deal to create an understanding throughout the general population of the significance of healthy diet and habits. He speaks to everyday issues from how much meat should be consumed, and how it should be prepared, to the use of tobacco and alcohol and the effect on the body.